Car-fender



(Nyo Model.) A 2 sheets-slim 1A 4F, P. MAIZ'E, W. H. CUNRAD 8v WMPLER. GAR FENDER.

No. 576,210. f Patented Pebjz, 11897.

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(No Model() 4 2 sheets-smet 2.

F. PLMAIZRW. H. CONRAD au F. H. WAMPLER.

' GAR FENDER.

No. 5?@,210 Patented Peb. l2, 1897.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

FRANK P. MAIZE, IVILLIAM H. CONRAD, AND FRANK H. WAMPLER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-FENDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 576,210, dated February 2,1897. Application filed November 2,1896. Serial No. 610,812. (No :nodel To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK P. MAIZE, WILLIAM H. CONRAD, and FRANK H. WAM- PLER, citizens of the United States, residing at the city of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Fenders, of which the following is a specification'.

Our invention has relation to a safety lifeguard or fender for motor-cars for preventing loss of life and injury to limb; and it relates particularly to the general construct-ion, arrangement, and mode of operation of such an appliance.

The principal objects of our invention are, first, to provide a comparatively simple, durable, and effective life-guard or fender for electric or other motor-cars; second, to provide a fender or life-guard for electric cars so arranged that the same may be readily elevated into inoperative position; third, to provide a fender or life-guard adapted to prevent loss of life and injury to limb and to travel normally in operative position in advance of the car and also to be readily attached to and detached from the car; fourth, to provide a life-guard or fender with an apron or carrier of flexible material and With a iieXible shield or guard connected therewith and disposed normally in an inclined or angular position thereto, the said apron adapted upon the impact of an object against the same to safely receive the object against loss of life or injury to limb, and, fifth, to provide a carfender in which the several parts comprising the same are of comparatively simple construction, less expensive, and readily assembled and the shield or guard and apron composed of matted or plaited rope or the like to give required flexibility thereto and to perform the function of a couch in receiving and holding a person therein.

Our invention, stated in general terms, consists of a car-fender constructed and arranged .as to the parts thereof in substantially the manner hereinafter described and claimed.

The nature, scope, and general characteristie features of our invention will be more fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, in which-d Figure l is a top or plan view of a fender embodying main features of our invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view thereof.`

Fig. 3 is a side elevational View of the fender in operative position. Fig. 4E represents in top or plan and side views two different forms of clips or supports for attachment to the car to assist in supporting the fender in required position therefrom, and Fig. 5 represents in top and side elevational views the different metal parts of the framework of the fender of our invention.

Referring to the drawings, ct is the platform of a car A, provided with a dashboard d. The rail a2, surrounding the upper portion of the dashboard ct', is provided at each end with a staple a3, for a purpose to be presently fully explained.

b and b in Fig. 4 represent two different forms of clips or supports adapted to be secured to the under side of the platform a or to the front thereof for engaging, by means of the pintles b2 thereof, the fender.

The fender C is provided with metal framework, such as tubing, consisting of crosstubes o and c' at the upper and lower portions of the apron thereof, which are united to a longitudinal surrounding cord or rope c2 by means of 4T-unions c3 and c4, the unions being preferably constructed in the manner illustrated in detail in Fig. 5.

At the forward ends of the apron are provided curved two-part castings o4 and c5,bolted together, through one portion of each of which the rope c2, forming the longitudinal yielding sides of the apron, extends, and Which is given a slight concavity in front, as at c6 in Figs. l and 2l of the drawings. In the curved castings c4 and o5, at the eXtreme outer ends of the same, are secured tubing @and e', provided With the clamps or unions e2 and e3 on both sides.V This tubing terminates at the rear upper ends in T-unions, having bearings f and f which are adapted to engage the pintles b2 of the clips or supports b and b", suitably secured to the platform o. of the car A.

Connected with the rear portion of the apron and projecting at an angle thereto is IOO a matted or plaited rope guard or shield G, which is provided at the upper end with a tubular crossbar g, having at the respective ends of the same T-unions g and g2, provided with eyes g3 and g4, which are adapted to engage chains 7i and h on the respective sides of the fender and extending rearwardly into engagement with the hooks or staples as of the rail a2 of the dashboard of the car A. These chains are provided with clips h2, whereby slack in the chain may be taken up or the chains made fast, so as to securely hold the fender in either the required operative or inoperative position. The chains at their forward ends near the front of the apron are connected with the eyes t' and t" of couplings or unions t2 of the tubular bars e and c on the respective sides of the fender, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

The apron and guard of the fender are com posed largely of rope extending diagonally in opposite directions forming a plaited or matted surface as to each of said members, for example, as illustrated in Figs. l and 2 of the drawings, whereby through the impact of an object against the front of the fender and the falling of the same onto the apron and guard thereof the object will not come in contact with the metal framework of the fender, so that such a fender affords the greatest possible protection against loss of life or injury to limb.

It may be here remarked that by reason of the flexible connections between the guard of the fender and the apron and in view of the connection established between the apron and the pintles of the clips or supports connected with the front platform the fender may be readily folded into a vertical position against the dashboard with the guard resting in an inclined posit-ion against the front of the car and held in such elevated position by means of the catches or hooks h2, located on the respective chains h and 7L', connected, respectively, with the fender and dashboard of the car. Furthermore, the impact of a person against the front of the apron and falling upon the same will cause the apron to yield sufficiently to perform the function of a couch in receiving the same without fear of bodily harm or injury to the limb of the person lodged thereon.

It will be manifestly obvious that as to minor details of the parts, that is, the coupling or connecting devices, for establishing the apron as well as the guard or shield therewith may be modified without departing from the spirit or scope of our invention, and hence we do not wish to be understood as limiting ourselves to the precise construction and arrangement of all the parts as hereinbefore explained; but,

Having thus described the nature and objects of our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a car-fender, an apron consisting of thin cord or rope meshed, matted or plaited, the sides and front of which are secured to stout rope, a guard or shield of netting secured to and projecting upward at an angle to said apron and connected with side chains, the sides of said guard or shield being bound with stout rope, a framework pivoted at its rear end to the car and consisting of side and cross bars of tubing, clamps securing the cross and side bars to said apron and shield or guard, two-part castings located at the front corners of said apron and framework, and said chains connecting said castings and cross-bars of said shield or guard with said car, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our signatures in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK I. MAIZE. WILLIAM II. CONRAD. FRANK II. XVAMPLER. I'Vitnesses:

J. WALTER DoUGLAss, THOMAS M. SMITH. 

